Ugly


Tackling behavioural problems in the boxer dog | Pets4Homes
Ugly was the best dog a boy could want.This picture is reasonably close to how he looked. All I remember is he had a lot of black in his face and his ears were not cropped. That probably means his tail was not either.

Ugly was a big, muscular male boxer that we kept out-of-doors. I don't remember why but I think it's because he wasn't very well-behaved. Our 1st boxer, Nuppu (pronounced Nuppa) was a female, well-behaved and an indoor dog. She kind of spoiled my parents' expectation of a boxer's behavior.

He was so much more active and "hard to teach" that my father built an A-frame doghouse (I think it had shingles on it) to protect him from the rain or snow depending on the season. In order to keep him warm in the winter old blankets were put in the A-frame. He seemed to endure them well, perhaps that A-frame functioned like an igloo - body heat kept the small space reasonably warm with a small opening to come in and out.

Build an insulated A-Frame doghouse for under $75
The yard was different but the doghouse looked a lot like this one.

This doghouse was surrounded by a 5-foot wire fence that we could see through and we could stick our hands through to touch him. As we got older we could take him out of the pen to play from time to time. On occasion he could be found climbing the fence or even leaping it in a single bound. But as he got older, and after much correction, he learned to stay in the pen.

Our favorite game was "dog tackle" usually played in the spring. There was a 2-strand wire clothesline in our backyard that our mom would occasionally use to dry clothes - sheets, blankets, towels; things she wanted to smell fresh. Joe and I would put Ugly on a leash, wrap it around the wire strands and then try to tackle him. He loved it.

Usually the ground was wet and muddy. so by the end of "dog tackle" there were 3 beings covered in mud. If my memory is correct it all ended with everyone getting hosed down before Ugly went back into his pen, and Joe and I back in the house.

I don't remember him dying so I guess it happened after I left home at 18. Ugly was the best dog a boy could want, especially if you liked to rough-house with a dog.

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